Tag: social tools

The Social Tools Summit is right around the corner. If you care about social selling or social media marketing, this is an industry event not to be missed. The Social Tools Summit is the first event of its kind—an entire conference focused on social tools, where you can learn about the latest and most effective social tools and how industry experts leverage them to improve the ROI of social media efforts in order to amplify marketing and boost sales.

Have you struggled to implement social media best practices throughout your company? Many social business enthusiasts struggle with getting their colleagues to take social media and social tools seriously. With 40 industry speakers, the summit will explore various issues that businesses face regarding social media; learn how to make social tools an invaluable part of your marketing strategy from CEOs as well as in-the-know social media practitioners.

The keynote speakers are Dave Kerpen, CEO of Likeable Local, and Neal Schaffer, Founder of Maximize Social Business of author of Maximize Your Social. I will be speaking at the event on Trender panels throughout the day on numerous social media topics as well as marketing automation. I am thrilled to take part in this highly valuable and unique industry event. There are countless reasons to attend the Social Tools Summit; Neal Schaffer details many in his article: 45+ Reasons to Attend the Social Tools Summit.

Without a doubt, you will gain valuable knowledge about how to improve the ROI of your social media efforts. While there are certainly countless educational advantages of attending the summit, there is much to be gained from networking with the industry leaders and social media practitioners who are speaking at the event.

How to Rock Networking at an Industry Event

The goal of your networking should be to develop lasting, mutually beneficial relationships. To form valuable, long-term connections, you must be genuine in all your actions and be professional. Be a good listener and a respectful and responsive conversationalist; be patient and kind with others. Strive for full understanding of what they do and their business or professional concerns, all while not coming across as overly “salesy.”

Start by being helpful. Do something to help out a new connection; perhaps mention his company or remarkable work in your published content or refer business his way. People are more inclined to help those who have already proven themselves as skilled, knowledgeable and in the know.

Show up prepared to an industry event; arm yourself with high-quality business cards. I recommend Moo; they offer a vast selection of artful business card designs as well as the option to design your own business card from scratch. You should also bring a notebook to jot down key information you learn as well as notes about the people you meet and the conversations you have.

Finally, be strategic about your networking. Research the event you will be attending and reach out to people on LinkedIn ahead of time. A brief message saying that you will be at the event and would like to connect and learn more about their business is effective. The Social Tools Summit hits Boston tomorrow, May 12, 2015. I hope to see you there. If you cannot attend in real life, visit the website to get a streaming pass.